creak
/kriːk
/verb [no object]
1(Of an object, typically a wooden one) make a scraping or squeaking sound when being moved or when pressure is applied: the stairs creaked as she went up them [with complement]: the garden gate creaked open...
- Beneath her, the wooden floors creaked and her shoes sounded softly in the silence.
- I heard the gates creak open and felt a slight shove to move forward.
- I'm caught unawares as the wooden door creaks open, and a large man lurches into the room, his belly swaying with every step he takes.
Synonyms
squeak, groan, grate;
screech, squeal, grind, jar, rasp, rub, scrape;
complain
2Show weakness or frailty under strain: the system started to creak...
- Police sources told the Evening Press the ten-year-old system was creaking under the strain as aging equipment fails.
- The healthcare system groaned and creaked under the rising strain.
- With the mobile phone networks creaking under the strain, I couldn't locate any friends, and wandered off home.
noun
A scraping or squeaking sound: the creak of a floorboard broke the silence...
- A creak in the floorboard echoed throughout the house, but there was no sign that anyone had heard anything.
- The heavy fabric blocked the sound of the thunder, and a creak outside my door was now audible.
- I could hear the pops, the creaks, the rumbling of the ice underfoot and all around.
Derivatives
creakingly
- It's not just the characters who are under-developed either; the unimaginative plot is creakingly predictable and seems to chug along on its own pre-determined path, rather than being driven by the characters' desires.
- It is the crudest roman-à-clef, glaringly derivative and creakingly obvious.
- At that moment the first of the early morning wagons rolled thunderingly, creakingly, sqeakingly by the garden wall, and without a word the two lovers dressed.
Origin
Middle English (as a verb in the sense 'croak'): imitative.